Measures such as electric fences and guard dogs can protect livestock from predation, but they can't directly change the way people feel about wolves.

Misconceptions, fear, politics, conflicting interests, and disinformation all influence the way wolves are managed in Europe today. Attitudes towards wolves in Europe vary widely, which means measures to improve human-wolf coexistence often need to address the underlying drivers of conflict.

Effective communication and transparency can ensure factual accuracy, win hearts and minds, help to mediate disputes, and achieve just and sustainable conservation solutions.

The Italian NGO Io non ho paura del lupo (I'm not afraid of the wolf), a member of Rewilding Europe's European Rewilding Network, is working to promote human-wolf coexistence in the Italian Alpine Arc region.

In areas where wolves are present, the organisation's "Return of the Wolf" initiative is reaching out to local stakeholders to raise awareness and understanding through educational events, training and outdoor activities, and stakeholder meetings dedicated to wolves and other wildlife.

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Compensation for livestock killed by wolves can help to increase acceptance. However, such compensation should ideally be linked to measures to prevent further attacks.

European farmers need to be empowered to adapt their production systems to make them less vulnerable, with rural development bodies playing a more supportive role. This adaptation needs to be done in anticipation of wolves settling in a new area. Great care is also needed in assessing attacks putatively attributed to wolves - it is often difficult to differentiate between livestock killed by wolves and livestock killed by dogs.

A study carried out in Greece in 2017 found that three preventive measures significantly reduced wolf depredation risk for livestock herds - increased herd surveillance, systematic night confinement, and an adequate number of livestock guard dogs. These findings have been found to be applicable almost everywhere, and for all kinds of livestock (including cattle).

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The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2023–2027) provides financial resources for enhancing livestock protection under its Rural Development Programmes.

These resources include subsidising salaries and accommodation of shepherds, purchasing and maintaining livestock guard dogs and fences, assessing livestock depredation vulnerability, and providing expert advice to mitigate losses. However, use of these resources across Europe has so far been limited.

In the Greater Côa Valley rewilding landscape in Portugal, the Rewilding Portugal team has introduced a livestock guard dog programme as a way of support Iberian wolves south of the Douro River.

The target is to eventually embed 100 dogs within livestock flocks and herds in the area. The Serra da Estrela dogs used in the programme have been guarding livestock against attacks by Iberian wolves for centuries.

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Inspired by approaches to coexistence with bears in North America, the "wildlife-smart community" concept is designed to enable and encourage communities to embrace and benefit from coexistence with wildlife, including wolves.

The concept encompasses urban and land use planning (zoning), adaptations to farming, pastoral and forestry systems, as well as recreational activities, and techniques for avoidance and mitigation of conflicts.

A key feature of this approach is the proactive development of novel governance arrangements through public-private-community partnerships that aim to build shared knowledge and understanding of human-wildlife interaction, grow business opportunities around wildlife comeback, and develop benefit-sharing mechanisms where coexistence costs are shared equitably among community members.

This differs from more widespread sectoral approaches that typically focus on public agencies providing financial and technical support to farmers once conflicts have become serious.

Despite its demonstrated success in fostering coexistence with large predators in North America, the wildlife-smart community concept is still largely underemployed in Europe.

The Rewilding Apennines team are currently developing wildlife-smart communities in the Central Apennines rewilding landscape in Italy, with a focus on supporting the local Marsican brown bear population and ensuring bear comeback benefits local people.

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